After Gutenberg

Green Car Congress has reported that the EPA now is proposing a new rule under the authority of the Clean Air Act.

Maybe, Obama’s pit bull dislikes the Business Protection Agency moniker that the EPA had garnered during the Regan Regime. In any case, by proposing a new rule that would require Large Stationary Sources in the United States to make use of BACT (Best Available Control Technologies) for reducing GHG (Green House Gas emissions), at least a show can be made (image, if not substance) to the rest of the world that we really, really are trying to be less negligent about destruction of life on the planet as we know it.

(With apologies to the Everly Brothers)
Lisa is a joker (she’s a bird)
A very funny joker (she’s a bird)
But when she jokes my money (she’s a dog)
Her jokin’ ain’t so funny (what a dog)
Lisa is a joker that’s a’tryin’ to take my money (she’s a bird dog)

It would require large industrial facilities that emit at least 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases GHGs a year to obtain construction and operating permits covering these emissions. The rule proposes new thresholds for GHGs that define when Clean Air Act CAA permits under the NSR (New Source Review) and title V operating permits programs would be required for new or modified existing industrial facilities.

The proposed thresholds would “tailor” the permit programs to limit which facilities would be required to obtain NSR and title V permits and would cover nearly 70% of the national GHG emissions that come from stationary sources, including those from the nation’s largest emitters—including power plants, refineries, and cement production facilities. Permits must demonstrate the use of best available control technologies and energy efficiency measures to minimize GHG emissions.

The proposed tailoring rule addresses a group of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide CO2, methane CH4, nitrous oxide N2O, hydrofluorocarbons HFCs, perfluorocarbons PFCs, and sulfur hexafluoride SF6. EPA is proposing carbon dioxide equivalent CO2e as the preferred metric for determining GHG emissions rates for any combination of these six GHGs, but is also requesting comment in this proposal on alternatives.

• Under the Title V operating permits program, EPA is proposing a major source emissions applicability threshold of 25,000 tons per year tpy of CO2e for existing industrial facilities. Facilities with GHG emissions below this threshold would not be required to obtain an operating permit.
• Under the PSD (Prevention of Significant Deterioration) portion of NSR—a permit program designed to minimize emissions from new sources and existing sources making major modifications—EPA is proposing a:
  • Major stationary source threshold of 25,000 tpy CO2e. This threshold level would be used to determine if a new facility or a major modification at an existing facility would trigger PSD permitting requirements.
  • Significance level between 10,000 and 25,000 tpy CO2e. Existing major sources making modifications that result in an increase of emissions above the significance level would be required to obtain a PSD permit.

Well, she t’aint no Blue Dog Democrat, that’s fer dang shure!

EPA is requesting comment on a range of values in this proposal, with the intent of selecting a single value for the GHG significance level.With the proposed emissions thresholds, EPA estimates that 400 new sources and modifications to existing sources would be subject to review each year for GHG emissions. In total, approximately 14,000 large sources would need to obtain operating permits that include GHG emissions. Most of these sources are already subject to clean air permitting requirements because they emit other pollutants.

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